PNB Housing eyes Rs 100 cr micro-loan book in FY27

PNB Housing Finance expects its newly launched micro-housing loan business to reach around Rs 100 crore by the end of the current financial year as it expands deeper into the affordable housing segment, a top official said on Thursday.

The lender has already rolled out the product and expects disbursements to gather pace now as the policy framework and employee training are in place.

“It (micro-housing loan business) has already started; now, since the policy and training are in place, I think it should start. Safely by the end of the year, AUM of this business could be around Rs 100 crore,” Ajai Kumar Shukla, managing director and chief executive officer of PNB Housing Finance, told PTI in an interview.

He said the company would not dilute underwriting standards while lending to customers with relatively lower income profiles.

“We will not compromise underwriting standards. Your valuation process, legal process, underwriting process and personal discussion process will remain intact,” he added.

Shukla said the company expects leverage to increase as capital raised earlier gets deployed to support growth.

“Our current leverage is less than 4... around 3.7-3.8. I think this should be, three years down the line, around leverage of almost 6,” he said, adding that the capital would be utilised largely for organic growth.

Currently, the CRAR of the company stood at 28.26 per cent in June 2026, compared to 27.26 per cent in March 2026 and 29.68 per cent in June 2025.

The company, however, will continue to undertake limited portfolio acquisitions. It purchased loan pools worth around Rs 146 crore in the first quarter, he said. On funding costs, Shukla said reported borrowing costs have remained broadly stable at around 7.35-7.36 per cent and could soften as market conditions improve.

“Maybe a 0.10 per cent benefit should come as banks benefit from the RBI’s FCNR(B) measures and the company accesses more refinance from the National Housing Bank,” he added.

PNB Housing has also restarted construction finance lending but will maintain a conservative approach to the business, Shukla said.

“In the first year we would be around 3 per cent of our book; maybe over a period of three years would be around 7-8 per cent of my book,” he said.

“At any given point of time, it should not cross more than 10 per cent of my book because we want to be a retail housing finance company and we will be,” he added.

The company will initially offer construction finance in about 8-10 cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune and Ahmedabad, while focusing on developers with strong execution capabilities and timely project delivery, he added.